Greece, 2.5 million Euros to Albania for the theater which was never built

Greece has allocated for Albanian authorities a 2.5 million Euro fund to build the New National Theater in Tirana, but this theater was never built. This was declared by the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Greece, Evangelos Venizelos (photo) during Wednesday’s parliamentary proceedings.

“From January of 2002, Greece has sent to the Bank of Albania an amount of 2.5 million Euros for the construction of the new National Theater in Tirana. Since then, that account has remained frozen and this theater was never built”, said Mr. Venizeloz. Mr. Venizelos’ reaction followed the question addressed by Rahil Makri MP from Independent Greeks, who said that “while culture in Greece is suffering, neighboring countries are being given millions of Euros to develop their culture”.

Mr. Venizelos said that the agreement for the funding of the theater was reached in December 2001 in the framework of the bilateral agreement of cooperation between Greece and Albania. “Greece decided to support the construction with a fund of 2.5 million Euros and this followed the accord reached by the two prime ministers, Kostas Simitis and Pandeli Majko, during the visit that Mr. Majko held in Athens on November 12, 1998”, said the Greek deputy prime minister.

The Ministry of Culture in Albania has not reacted about this debate opened in the Greek parliament. /ibna/